Ecuador’s Alberto Miño and Colombia’s Paula Medina, both players who
have benefitted from the ITTF Global Junior Programme, won the
respective Under 21 Men’s and Women’s Singles titles at the Latin
American Championships in El Salvador on Wednesday 24th March 2009.
The
Under 21 Women’s Singles event saw an all Colombian final with Paula
Medina beating her compatriot, Luisa Zuluaga, to clinch gold; whilst
Alberto Miño broke the host nation’s hearts by overcoming the local
boy, Josué Donado.
Results
At the final
hurdle the young man from Ecuador’s most populous city, Guayaquil,
succeeded in four games, winning 11-7, 9-11, 11-6, 11-8 whilst Paula
Medina prevailed in straight games, 11-4, 11-8, 11-9.
Repeat
The results were very much a repeat of their clashes in 2008.
At
the Ecuador Junior Open in the picturesque city of Cuenca, high in the
Andes; Alberto Miño beat Josué Donado at the semi-final stage of the
Boys’ Singles event before overcoming Victorien Le Guen of France in
the final, to secure gold.
A crucial match and for Paula
Medina it was Luisa Zuluaga who she faced in what undoubtedly her most
crucial match of the year. The scene was Santo Domingo in the Dominican
Republic and the scenario was simple; win and you went to the Olympic
Games, lose and a you stayed in Bogota.
Paula Medina won in straight games and in San Salvador, she repeated the feat.
Potential European Champion
Alberto
Miño and Paula Medina both impressed, with the latter thoroughly
justifying her top seeded position and also endorsing the views of the
coaches at the Hebei Liutong Table Tennis School in Shijiazhuang, two
hours by train from Beijing.
Medina attended the school in
July and August 2008 with the expert view being that if she was Chinese
and received Chinese coaching, she would be the European champion!
Somewhere in the comment there is a twisted logic, the Chinese just think differently but no doubt the summary is correct.
Untroubled
En
route to the final Medina beat Puerto Rica’s Gloriany Baba, Guatemala’s
Andrea Estrada and Lyanne Aponte, also from Puerto Rico; at no stage
was she extended the full five games distance.
She did exactly what was expected.
Luisa Zuluaga Causes Shock
However,
Luisa Zuluaga did the unexpected. In the quarter-finals, she ousted
Brazil’s second seeded, Mariany Nonaka after ousting El Salvador’s
Karla Perez and Mexico’s Sara Rosas.
A place in the penultimate round secured, she overcame Puerto Rica’s Jerica Marrero, to secure a place at the top table.
Opening Two Rounds
Meanwhile, for Alberto Miño, the route the final was somewhat more traumatic than that of Paula Medina.
Seeded
no.4, the Ecuadorian experienced comparatively minor problems reaching
the semi-final stage. In his opening two matches he beat the promising
Edilberto Merino from El Salvador and Argentina’s Rodrigo Gilabert in
straight games.
Tested to the Limit
A
semi-final place secured he was tested to the very limit by the player,
against whom he had suffered defeat in the Boys’ Singles final at the
Latin American Junior Championships in 2008, Colombia’s Juan Restrepo.
The
Ecuadorian won but it was by the narrowest of five game margins with
coach, Gustavo Ulloa, biting his nails to the quick. Winning a close
match gives a player confidence and in the case of Alberto Miño that
was surely the situation in the final.
Fine Wins
However,
Juan Restrepo and Josué Donado who both suffered at the hands of
Alberto Miño had every right to be confident when they faced the
Ecuadorian.
In the quarter-finals Restrepo ousted second seed,
Brazil’s Eric Mancini; whilst one round later, Josué Donado, seeded
no.3, defeated top seed, Chile’s Bruno Levis.
Just What the Doctor Ordered
Fine
wins but in San Salvador Alberto Miño held the answers and for Jeanine
Cuadros, the President of the Ecuadorian Table Tennis Federation, who
at the moment is ill and confined to quarters, no doctor could have
provided a comparable cure.
The win recorded by "her boy" was the best medicine possible.
Source: www.ittf.com
